“I just met with the doctor today and he said I’m good to go,” Frasor said at the Smith Center after a late afternoon weight room session.
The 6-foot-3 rising senior has been formally cleared to return to the court, six months after suffering a torn left anterior cruciate ligament back on Dec. 27.
“Of course I’m not going to jump right into five-on-five,” said Frasor, who averaged 3.0 points and 2.2 assists in his shortened 2007-08 season. “I’ve been shooting and cutting before, but I’m probably going to just start playing one-on-one and two-on-two and gradually get back into the flow of things.”
His rehabilitation proceeded right on schedule and he'll soon be joining the team's offseason pick-up games. And with the start of practice more than three months away, he’ll be at full speed in time for preseason conditioning.
“I’m feeling as strong as I ever have,” Frasor said. “They always say [an injury] makes you stronger and I think I’ve worked a lot and put a lot of time into this. Hopefully things will go perfect next year and I can go out on a high note.”
But there’s the possibility the 2008-09 campaign isn’t his final season in a Carolina Blue jersey. While no one is claiming to be overly optimistic, North Carolina has filed an appeal for a Medical Hardship Waiver.
Frasor meets all but one of the NCAA’s conditions for a medical hardship. The problematic condition reads as follows: “A student-athlete may be granted an additional year of competition … when the student-athlete has not participated in 30 percent of the school's scheduled contests.”
Frasor’s 12 games played last season is two more than the NCAA limit for an extra year of eligibility.
“It still hasn’t been sent to the NCAA,” Frasor explained. “It has to go through the ACC first – they have all the letters. I wrote a letter, my parents wrote a letter, Coach Williams wrote a letter. They got all the statistics: missed 10 games [sophomore] year, 27 games my junior year. You throw all that together and see what the NCAA says.”
There’s no timetable for a verdict on the appeal. All Frasor can do is wait – and prepare for what may or may not be his final year in Chapel Hill.
“They don’t know – it could be one month, three months, six months, I could find out during the season,” he said. “That’s why it’s tough; I don’t know if I’m going to be graduating. I just wish they would tell me.
“But I’m going at it like I’m going to graduate this year, it’s my senior year and it’s going to be special. If I get an extra year, then that’s just even better. Because I’d love to stay here as long as possible.”